As unveiled Monday, MSNBC will rebrand later this year, dropping its iconic peacock logo and renaming to My Source News Opinion World, or MS Now, as part of its separation from Comcast’s NBCUniversal.
Versant CEO Mark Lazarus announced in an internal memo on Monday, according to CNBC. Despite earlier assurances in January that the network’s name would remain unchanged, NBCUniversal leaders decided during transition planning to adopt a new name to clearly distinguish MSNBC from NBC News, Lazarus explained.
MSNBC President Rebecca Kutler emphasized in a separate memo that the network’s core mission and commitment to its audience will remain unchanged, stating, “While our name will be changing, who we are and what we do will not.”
The network is actively building an independent newsroom, hiring around 100 new staff, including 40 journalists from outlets like CNN, Bloomberg, and Politico, to establish its first Washington, D.C., bureau.
Unlike MSNBC, CNBC’s news organization is sufficiently distinct from NBC News and will not undergo a name change. Notably, CNBC’s acronym stands for “Consumer News and Business Channel,” not National Broadcasting Co.